Dream and Inspire!

Hi and Happy Wednesday!

I'm so excited to reveal my first projects as a design team member of Visible Image. I want to thank Helen and Mark, the lovely owners of Visible Image, for this opportunity- working in this talented team is a great honour!
Every other Wednesday I will be showing a new project I have made using Visible Image stamps. I hope will like my creations!


I thought I would start with a little mixed media project; two tags with pink, white and black colours:


I started with painting the tags with white gesso. Manila tags do allow you to use wet media, but a thin layer of gesso still makes the surface easier to work with. In addition, gesso is great for creating texture: I was using a large, wide brush, so once the gesso was dry the tags were covered with fine brush mark lines. Cool!

For colouring the tags I used my favourite watercolour media; water-soluable Neocolor II crayons. I coloured the tags leaving some spots white, and blended the crayons with water. To mute down the colours I brayered a thin layer of gesso on top, and once all the layers were dry I was ready to decorate the backgrounds with stamping!


Usually when decorating a background with stamping I don't mount the stamp on an acrylic block. Creating random patterns by bending the stamp is much easier with a non-mounted stamp. However, this time I wanted to stamp with acrylic paints, and spreading just a thin layer of paint on the stamp was so much easier when the stamp was firmly on the acrylic block.

Remember when stamping with acrylic paints, gesso or gel medium always to clean your stamps right after stamping. I'm not too good at cleaning my stamps, but I never leave acrylic paint on my stamps. If the paint dries on the stamp you will not get it off and your stamp is ruined! For cleaning my stamps I like to use a very soft toothbrush; it cleans the stamp properly but yet very gently.




The black heat embossed faces were stamped using the mirroring image stamping technique. I stamped the mirrored image on fun foam and was surprised how well that worked. There's no need to stamp on the back of my stamps anymore!


For the second tag I used the same 'Woman INKognito' stamp again, but as the main background colour was black/grey, I covered the image with purple embossing powder instead of black.

The lovely quotes are from a stamp set called 'Imagine Dream Inspire'. I'm sure this set will be used for many projects in the future, it's so versatile!


For more information on Visible Image stamps, and for reading more inspiration posts please visit:
Shop: http://visibleimage.co.uk/shop
Blog: http://visibleimage.co.uk/blog
Show & Tell Monthly Challenge details: http://visibleimage.co.uk/challenge
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/visibleimage
Facebook PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/visibleimage
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/visibleimage
Twitter: https://twitter.com/visible_image
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/visibleimagestamps


Here are pictures of the Visible Image products I used (click on the pictures for more info):

     
  
Wishing you a nice day!
Hugs,
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One more chance to win a Sizzix Big Shot Plus!

Hi!
On the Sizzix UK site a great giveaway is still open for entries: Enter by Friday January 22 at 10:00 GMT and you might be the lucky winner of the Big Shot Plus machine PLUS a selection of dies from Sizzix brand new collection. Woohoo!

Just follow this link to the giveaway:


The names of the lucky winners of our past giveaways can be read here:

Wishing you luck!
Hugs,
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January Mixed Media Card Challenge: More inspiration!

Hi!
Have you already entered your card for January Mixed Media Card Challenge? The theme 'Beginnings' can be interpret in so many ways, and I'm hoping to see your project among the challenge entries!
Just follow this link to MMCC blog to see the challenge rules and to view all the amazing entries!

My second January project is about celebrating a beginning; the beginning of the new year, the beginning of a marriage and life together, or the beginning of an important era in life. So with this card I'm raising the glass for year 2016- let it be amazing!




This card was made on heavy watercolour paper, as I wanted to decorate the background with vibrant watercolours. For protecting the stamped image I covered it with masking fluid:



Once the mask was dry I coloured the background with yellow and orange watercolours. In addition, I added some texture using a dot stencil, gel medium and Distress Glitter. When the gel medium was dry I removed the masking fluid.


I coloured the glasses and the champagne with markers, and for creating a glassy finish I covered the glasses and the champagne splatters with Glossy Accents.


The flowers I stamped on red cardstock, added some shadow with markers, cut out, and glued on the card. Some petals were re-stamped on another red cardstock, cut out, and layered on top of the flower.



 I hope you get inspired and play along!


Wishing you a nice day.
Hugs,
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More stamping inspiration: Another card for January Take It Make It Challenge

Hi,

Have you checked out the entries to our January Craft Stamper Take It Make It Challenge? There's so much eye candy; colourful stamped cards in CAS style, projects with mixed media elements, cards with beautiful layers and cute details... If you have not yet linked your project I suggest you do it soon- there's an amazing prize by DaliART to be won! Read the challenge guidelines here, take out your stamps, and get creative!


My first January challenge project was a girly card with pink background, but for the second card I used my favourite earth tones:



For this card I used some simple masking techniques again: I started with stamping the bird on my card background, and masked it with a post-it note mask before stamping the background textures. The green dots are stamped and heat embossed.


For colouring I used the water-soluable Neocolor II crayons. They are so great to work with! Texture on the yellow sky was made with inking through a stencil.

Bird stamp and sentiment are from Dina Wakley 'Scribbly Birds' stamp set.

I hope you my card will inspire you to play along!


Wishing you a lovely weekend.
Hugs,
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Card for January Take It Make It Challenge: You're Special

Hi!

Craft Stamper Magazine Take It Make It blog is challenging you again to take out your stamps and to get creative! The January theme is simple: 'Take A Stamp' which means that anything goes, as long as there's some stamping somewhere on the project. And one lucky winner will get an amazing prize by our generous sponsor DaliART:





On my take I decided to practice on masking techniques and made a simple card using five different stamps, some red stamping ink, grey markers, and a hint of gesso. Here's my finished card:


The image by Ashley G / Studio Calico is just adorable! The original design did not have a flower decoration included, but I thought I wanted to add something extra to decorate the pretty girl. I think the flower worked out just fine!

I started with stamping the flower on a piece of white cardstock. For covering the flower during the next step I stamped it again on a post it note, cut it out, and placed this mask on the stamped image (1). Then I stamped the girl image on top; positioning of a clear photo polymer stamp is very easy!
Then I again stamped the girl image on a post it note, placed my new mask on the stamped girl, and inked the white background with pink Distress ink (Picked Raspberry). To add more pattern on the inked surface I misted the cardstock with water, but kept the mister bit further away from the paper (approx. 30-40 cm), allowing the water to create splashes and different sized drops. Water reacted with the ink, and the drops became even lighter and more visible when I dried the background with a heat gun (2).
Then I added even more pattern by stamping on the background (the girl image was still protected with my post it note mask), and finished the decoration with 'stamping' horizontal lines with white gesso and an old key card (3). Once the paint was dry I removed the mask (4), and the image was ready to be coloured. For that I used grey and light pink markers.


The sentiment stamp is from another Studio Calico stamp set.


I think this card is one of my recent favourites. Hope you like it, too!


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Winter collages - Talvikollaaseja

Hi,
Before Christmas our office craft club got together for making Christmas cards and gift tags. What made this occasion even more special was the presence of an amazing artist/designer/illustrator Piia Keto, who's work I love. One of her latest assignments has been the creation of 'Piilopaikka' collection for Arabia (Piilopaikka translated to 'Hideout'). This autumn this beautiful tableware collection was complemented with winter themed parts, and our craft club had the pleasure to work with these Lapland inspired designs, printed on heavy white cardstock. So cool!

Hei,
Ennen joulua työpaikkamme askartelukerho kokoontui tekemään joulukortteja. Kerhon vetäjien lisäksi paikalla oli porukkaa ohjaamassa kuvittaja/graafikko/suunnittelija Piia Keto, joka on suunnitellut Arabialle ihanan retrohenkisen Piilopaikka-sarjan. Tästä syksystä alkaen sarjassa on ollut saatavilla myös talviaiheisia astioita, ja näitä ihania Piilopaikka Pakkanen -kuvioisia kartonkiarkkeja meillä oli käytettävissä myös korttiaskarteluun. Itse tykkään Piian Kedon kuviomaailmasta todella paljon, ja oli suuri ilo tavata taiteilija kauniiden ja inspiroivien kuvioiden takana!


On my projects I combined 'Piilopaikka' characters in a bit different way than they were presented on the original art works. During our crop session I was able to finish three cards and three tags. Quite an achievement for a slow paper crafter like me! 

Yhdistelin askartelutöissäni talvisen Piilopaikan hahmoja hieman erilaisiin asetelmiin. Nopean askarteluhetken lopputuloksena oli kolme tagia ja kolme korttia. 







Making collages is so much fun, and even if my projects differed from Piia Keto's original designs, I wanted to respect the unique atmosphere Piia had created in her retro style designs. During our crop I also had the chance to have a chat with her, and showed her my collage card projects. I got the feeling that she liked them, too! :) 


Kollaaseja oli tosi kiva tehdä, ja vaikka kortteihin rakennetut maisemat poikkesivat alkuperäisistä jonkin verran, pyrin säilyttämään kollaaseissa Piia Kedon luoman omaperäisen tunnelman. Eikä taiteilija tuntunut pahastuvan näistä jatkokehitelmistä lainkaan - päinvastoin! :)

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Art journal page for Jehkotar CRAFTChallenge

Hi and happy Sunday!

Finnish craft challenge blog 'Jehkotar CRAFTChallenge' has revealed a new moodboard with sketch for us to play with:

Hei ja mukavaa sunnuntaita!
Tammikuun haaste on julkaistu Jehkotar CRAFTChallenge-blogissa. Tässä mukavan erilaisessa haastetehtävässä on aina tarjolla inspiraatiokuva, luonnos ja teksti. Haasteeseen osallistutaan minkälaisella työllä tahansa, kunhan työn herättäjänä on käytetty yhtä tai useampaa näistä kolmesta:


I was inspired by the large circles on the sketch, and made this below A4 sized art journal page:

Minä ihastuin luonnoksen suuriin ympyräkuvioihin, ja niiden pohjalta syntyi tällainen A4-kokoinen art journal -sivu:


My starting point was a journal page I did not like at all. So for turning it to something else I started with covering the page with white gesso.
Once dry I coloured the page with my favourite colours, water soluable Neocolor II crayons. When the entire page was coloured it looked really messy and not pretty at all, but when I added some water the magic started to happen! I loved watching the colours mix and blend beautifully.

Sivun pohjana oli joskus aiemmin aloitettu journal-sivu, josta en tykännyt ollenkaan. Peitin sivun valkoisella gessolla - ei taida olla mitään, jota gessolla ei saisi pelastettua!
Kun maali oli kuivanut väritin sivun vesiliukoisilla Neocolor II -liiduilla. Väritetty sivu näytti aika hurjalta ja sekavaltakin, mutta tiesin ilmeen muuttuvan, kun sivelin väripintaa vedellä. Neocolor II -väreissä on ihanan vahva pigmentti, miitä on todella helppo käyttää ja ne liukenevat veteen hyvin.

The end result was slightly too bright for my purpose, so I decided to mute the colours a bit. Using a brayer I added a hint of white gesso on top of the colours which also gave some nice patterns to my page.

Väritetty sivu oli hieman turhankin värikäs, joten vaimensin värejä hieman valkoisella gessolla. Maalin levittämiseen käytin kumitelaa, jolla saa työhön helposti myös mukavaa kuviopintaa.


Then I took a sheet of white tissue paper and stamped quote texts on it. These lovely empowering words are from Dina Wakley 'Handwritten quotes' set. When stamping on tissue paper remember not to stamp on the glossy side of the paper but on the reverse side, then your stamped image will be nice and crispy.

Sivun tekstit on leimattu valkoiselle silkkipaperille (tekstit ovat Dina Wakleyn 'Handwritten Quotes' -leimasinsetistä). Silkkipaperille leimatessa kannattaa muistaa, että leimaa paperin karhealle, eikä sileälle puolelle - silloin leimajäljestä tulee tarkempi.

I cut out the texts and glued them down on my page with gel medium. Another option would have been to stamp directly on the page, but building a text collage is much more fun!

Leikkasin tekstit irti ja kiinnitin sivuuni gel mediumilla. Toki lauseet olisi voinut myös leimata suoraan sivuun, mutta sanakollaasin rakentaminen oli paljon mukavampaa!


I decorated the page with some stamped, watercoloured and die-cut flowers, stamped leaves and stamped background patterns. Using many vivid colours on one single project was quite a challenge for me, but I like the end result a lot. This again reminds me how useful it sometimes is to push the boundaries a bit and to step out of the comfort zone. You never know what you will discover!

Koristelin sivun leimatuilla, stanssatuilla ja vesiväreillä maalatuilla kukilla, joita löysin varastostani. Leimasin myös lehtiä valkoiselle kartongille ja käytin niitä sivun koristeluun. Ennen kukkien kiinnittämistä lisäsin taustaan kuviopintaa parilla tekstuurileimasimella.
Pidän vahvoista väreistä, mutta yleensä töissäni on vain muutama tarkkaan valittu väri. Tässä art journal -sivussa haastoin itseni käyttämään mahdollisimman montaa eri väriä ja poimin laatikosta liituja käteeni enempiä suunnittelematta. Itsensä haastaminen kannatti, sillä tykästyin tähän iloiseen värien sekamelskaan!



Wishing your day will be filled with bright colours. Thanks for stopping by in my blog!

Toivon, että päiväsi on ihanan inspiroivia värejä täynnä! Kiva, kun kävit blogissani!


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Giveaway: Win a brand new Sizzix Big Shot Plus!

Hi,

I have amazing news to share with you:
Sizzix UK is celebrating the beginning of 2016 with a massive giveaway in which three (!!) lucky winners will get a brand new A4 sized Big Shot Plus Starter kit (follow *this link* to read more information of the fabulous Starter Kit)

Hei,
Uusi vuosi on kiva aloittaa mukavilla uutisilla: Sizzix UK järjestää alkaneen vuoden kunniaksi huiman arvonnan, jossa kolme (!!) onnekasta voittaa itselleen uuden Big Shot Plus -aloituspakkauksen! Kurkkaa lisätietoja ja koko paketin sisältö *tämän linkin* takaa.


Entering is easy and does not cost you anything: Just follow *this link*, enter your details, and keep your fingers crossed. By entering this competition you will automatically be signed up to the Sizzix.co.uk newsletter so you can be the first to hear the latest news, views and more! But hurry up, this giveaway closes Sunday, January 3rd at 6 pm GMT. GOOD LUCK!

Osallistuminen on helppoa eikä se maksa mitään. Klikkaa *tätä linkkiä* ja täytä lomakkeelle yhteystietosi (sähkposti, etunimi, sukunimi ja puhelinnumero). Osallistuessasi arvontaan tilaat myös Sizzix:n sähköisen uutiskirjeen, josta voit lukea Sizzix-uutiset ja -tuotekuulumiset ensimmäisten joukossa! Uutiskirjeen voi halutessaan myös peruuttaa. Sizzix UK ei luovuta yhteystietojasi eteenpäin.
Toimi kuitenkin pian, sillä arvonta sulkeutuu sunnuntaina, 3.1. klo 20:00. ONNEA ARVONTAAN!



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Card for January Mixed Media Card Challenge: Love Rocks.

Hello and Happy New Year!

In Mixed Media Card Challenge blog we are also celebrating the beginning of a new year:


The theme 'Beginnings' can be interpreted in various ways. My card is about love; the beginning of a relationship or a life together. I think it can be given to an engagement or even a wedding couple.


The background is a leftover piece of a cardstock panel I made in a mixed media workshop by Birgit Koopsen. There are die-cut hearts glued down on a cardstock sheet, covered with wrinkled tissue paper and a thin layer of gesso, misted and decorated with some pattern stamping. As glue we used gel medium.




The black images (stamps by Cocoa Daisy) are stamped on a white piece of cardstock, and heat embossed with black glitter powder. Sentiment text by Dina Wakley is stamped and heat embossed, too.


I wish all the best for your year 2016! Maybe you want to start it with some mixed media fun and play along our great challenge? Details can be read here. Please visit the MMCC challenge blog every now and then, as there are new inspiration cards posted for the month's theme every Thursday!

Thanks for stopping by!
Hugs,
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